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Cheesecake Factory at Destiny USA in Syracuse will open before the end of the year

Cheesecake Factory Walden Galleria Buffalo.JPG

The exterior of the Cheesecake Factory at the Walden Galleria near Buffalo is seen in a 2012 file photo. Destiny USA's Cheesecake location will open before the end of the year.
(Stephen D. Cannerelli | scannerelli@syracuse.com)

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Destiny USA confirmed this morning that The Cheesecake Factory will be open at the mall before the end of the year.

The 12,000-square-foot location should be open by the second week of December, said Rob Schoeneck, Destiny general manager. It'll have its own exterior entrance and a patio with seating for more than 150 people inside the mall.

The restaurant will be located on the first level of Destiny's expansion, across from BCBG MaxAzria.

The exterior entrance will feature Cheesecake's typical branding, rising about 20 feet up the mall's facade, Schoeneck said. Cheesecake's outside door will be to the left of the secondary glass exterior entrance to Destiny's expansion.

That space had been designated for a restaurant all along, Schoeneck said.

"I think everything we've done in the last two years put it over the top for them," Schoeneck said of restaurant's long-awaited arrival in Syracuse.

At one time, the chain explored moving into the spot now occupied by Koto Japanese Steakhouse, previously a Hooters location, Schoeneck said.

The plan would have been to build a two-story restaurant in the Koto slot and the space below, where Ruby Tuesday is.

And Cheesecake was featured in a promotional computer-animated video uncovered on a website belonging to the mall's leasing team in 2010. The video included images showing numerous potential tenants, including Cheesecake.

Others in the video, like Saks Off 5th and P.F. Chang's, eventually made their way to Destiny in reality as well.